


The Fox and the Lion

by ShivaVixen



Series: Innocence and Experience [1]
Category: Devil May Cry, Tomb Raider (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Welding, Conspiracy, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, How else should I tag this?, Minor Original Character(s), Mystery, Slow Burn, Vague Description of Injuries, description of corpses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-06-27 01:44:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19780681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShivaVixen/pseuds/ShivaVixen
Summary: Lara Croft decided that instead of doing the usual places for her anthropology study, she'd go to the unusual island of Fortuna. It'll be a nice break after the mess that was the school trip to Peru.Only, demons are real, there's a conspiracy in the order of the sword and her only ally is a half-devil named Vergil.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Just This Once, Everybody Lives](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18387215) by [Shade_Penn1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shade_Penn1/pseuds/Shade_Penn1). 



> So, Shade Penn wrote a couple series of one shots with the idea of Lara Croft from Tomb Raider being Nero's mother. I highly recommend reading them.
> 
> This is me doing a remix on the same idea, meaning pretty much everything from both franchises is fair game. I've gotten up to chapter 8 written, so hopefully I won't have to deal with the plot changing on me. Again.

Chapter 1

Lara Croft probably should have read a little bit more on the place she'd chosen as her anthropological study for the summer. Sam had picked Austria, and most of the rest of the class had chosen Spain and Italy. After the disasterous school trip to Peru, Lara had picked the one that was … out of the way, compared to everyone else. Roth had told her that if no one heard from her the day she was supposed to have left, he'd be bringing his boat and crew to find her.

Lara had laughed and assured him that Fortuna was a nice enough place … just a very odd place.

The main reason: Peaceful Demon worship. Grant it, most demon cults weren't actually prone to human sacrifice, that was mostly fiction, but it was very rare for them to have such … prominence. The Demonic Church seemed to run the town, and were perfectly fine with people coming through to visit, as long as they didn't try to start anything. In fact, they had contacted multiple universities, offering their services to anthropology and archaeology students, though most students would rather go to places that they had already heard about. Lara wanted to try something new and get away from how stifling things had become with her friends now that one of them was gone.

The sole Hotel had surprisingly good rates, so Lara set up there, it would have been better if she could stay with a family, but unsurprisingly there had been no offers to that request, most probably didn't want her to turn their children against their main religion and way of life.

She had a list of things to do- get settled, find a grocery, find a library, and attend a couple of the services. Lara would have to journal everything, and hopefully, not insult someone by her own agnostic views.

She'd only be here for a month, so hopefully, that would be enough.

The woman at the front desk was helpful; giving her the directions she needed on what looked like an old city map- apparently while there was a tourism industry, it was not really what one could call thriving, given by the boxes of maps piled up in the small office behind the desk.

There was even a small pamphlet for their religion, which Lara took to read over.

That done, Lara headed straight to the library. She might as well get a background on this place, as much as she could.

' _Two Millenniums ago, there was a war, between the human world and the other, the underworld. But somebody woke up to justice, and stood against the legion alone. His name was Sparda. Later he quietly reigned the human world, and continued to preserve harmony until his death. He became a legend, the legendary Dark Knight Sparda._

_He closed the devil gate in our fair city, and ruled as Liege lord for some time; when he left, he promised to return, should we need him.'_

The pamphlet was not very helpful, but it did lead her to a couple books regarding the tenants of this odd religion.

It was surprisingly a very honor based religion, with mentions of virtues of loyalty, duty, and protecting those less fortunate while shunning anything that was considered depraved like meaningless violence and sexual promiscuity (akin to most of the current world religions). It was also, paradoxically, Anti-Demon, despite worshiping a demon. Probably why it had been allowed to exist, as there were no attempts to summon their demonic deity.

Lara spent most of the first week she was there in the library, to the point where the librarian actually set aside a desk for her, promising no one would touch it while she was gone. He looked amused when she used the roll top to make sure her notes wouldn't be too disturbed.

There were daily services, of course, but Lara could barely pull herself away from the library- it had such detailed records of the town's history, even of the time this legendary knight reigned. (So Sparda had been a real person, probably equally loved and hated, judging by the use of the word demon)

She sat in the back, which wasn't easy as the room was a semi-circle- she'd have to investigate the architecture later. In the center was a giant statue who was probably Sparda … it was quite odd to see a giant devil in such a pristine church. The stain glass ceiling was beautiful, and Lara hoped she could get a tour of the Church at some point.

The pew she chose had a little family, the parents had their heads bowed in prayer, and the little boy was twitching in his seat but staying still due holding his younger sibling in his arms. She felt as if she stuck out without the head covering, but the lady at the hotel desk assured her that no one would mind how she dressed, so long as she was respectful.

"You're new." The little boy whispered to her. His mother shushed him, but gave Lara a polite smile which she returned.

The mass started with a van guard of men with swords entering and taking their places, followed by a row of children chanting and a man with graying hair, the Vicar of the church, and functionally the leader of the city.

There was quite a bit of singing and chanting, the choir was led by a woman with a dress of white and gold, and stood out because she wore a circlet around her head instead of a the regular head covering. Some of the hymns seemed to be Latin with the occasional Greek but for the most part Lara resolved to ask if they had the words written down somewhere so she could figure out what the main language was.

Finally, the Vicar started speaking, and Lara did her best to keep a straight face as he began to preach on the importance of not letting demons control you and rising above one's base nature.

All in all, pretty much what you expected to hear from a religion, though they stressed the fact that Sparda was an ascended demon.

Lara walked out with the crowd at the end of the sermon, watching the almost solemn air most adults had, while the children were rather eager to get pass the main gate and immediately started chatting once they were passed them. Lara had just passed the gates when someone called out to her.

"Hey! You're new right? The student?"

Looking up, Lara saw the woman who had been leading the choir coming over to her. "What do you mean?" She asked, a little surprised to see that the woman was not much older than her.

"His holiness Sanctus told us that a student from the mainland would be coming, and that we were to help if we wanted. Most people are probably going to ignore you though."

Well, so much for as little bias as possible. Though it was probably good that most people would just go about their lives and pretend she didn't exist.

"Yes, I am, Lara Croft. And you are-?"

"Oh, Vesper! I'm the choir leader, I also help coordinate our holiday celebrations and make sure things are running smoothly." Vesper smiled. "Would you like to get some food with me? I can answer any questions you might have so far."

Lara agreed, and was a little amused when Vesper started asking her questions instead.

"So, what do you think so far?"

"… Interesting." Lara decided.

"But you don't believe." Vesper chuckled. "That's alright, most are skeptical when they first come."

"… well, you're anti-demon and worship a demon does present a conflict of logic." Lara grimaced, realizing that might have been a bit too far.

"And it's honestly the biggest hurdle for most new converts." Vesper assured her. "It takes a while to understand." Vesper paused. "I know, there's a book about the history of the island in the library, our scholars wrote it a century ago- it's a summary of all the old records, and they made sure to reference them all. Only our scholars tend to read it, but it'll be better than you having to slog through all of our history texts."

"And that helps me understand your faith, how?"

"It's at least a more focused direction than you reading all the books in our library. I'll show it to you." Vesper promised. "It doesn't have an actual title on it, they apparently couldn't agree on one, so it's just called the Compendium."

Most of the second and part of the third week were spent either in the library or in Vesper's company as she guided Lara around the city, as well as explained some of the customs.

"Most adults keep their heads covered, but it's really only mandatory on days of worship, we could go without it if we wanted. There have been some arguments about changing it back to full time for all adults, but for the most part it's an acceptable compromise." Vesper explained. "Since I'm head of the choir, I'm exempt until I get married."

"Those dresses do not look comfortable." Lara had taken to wearing long sleeves in order to not draw as many stares from everyone, but her status as an outsider was pretty obvious, everyone dressed as if it was the nineteen-forties, and Lara was the sole woman who wore pants.

"Everything's pretty much tailored made, so it fits without pinching- oh, we should get you a dress!"

"Most of my money went to paying for the hotel room for the month." Lara objected. She was not going to admit to having more.

"I bet I can get you to wear a dress before you leave, then." Vesper smiled.

"Not likely." Lara scoffed, but paused as Vesper was distracted by something over her shoulder. "Something wrong?" She turned to see a couple of the Order of the Sword members go by, one without a hood while the other was taller and broader and had their hood up. The one with the hood was carrying something.

"That's Commander Lumen and his Lieutenant Antiphon, there was a hunt yesterday." Vesper explained softly. "Someone must've died."

"A hunt? For what?" Lara asked just as softly.

"Demons … though I know you don't believe that yet. They've been spawning closer to the city lately." Vesper explained. "I'll probably be busy with the funeral, I'll see you at the weekly service? I'll show you the school then!"

"Of course. I'll be at the library if you want to talk." Lara started walking to the library, and watched Vesper go after the two before she had to turn down a side street.

She had a bad feeling about those demon hunts, even if she wasn't sure why, a ritual hunt wasn't likely to get someone killed, unless there was an accident … maybe that was it, something had gone wrong, and someone had gotten killed when they weren't supposed to. Lara sighed, and returned to the library.

The Compendium was a fairly dense read, and she had to go for the referenced texts to get any sort of background. Apparently before Sparda, Fortuna wasn't the most hospitable of places, and the people were subjected to being used by the previous regime as sacrifices. The previous regime and its loyalists were described as demons and devils and no name was given to the 'king of hell' that had ruled here then.

There was a thing called the Hellgate, which apparently people were sacrificed to. Sparda apparently sealed it with one of his two swords (And there seemed to be a contradiction in how many swords Sparda carried depending on the text) before ruling benevolently for a couple centuries before leaving.

Grant it, anything was probably benevolent after the previous regime, but it was noticeable that no one claimed lordship over the castle and island after he left. The exact transition was nebulous, as was the reason behind it, but it seemed that the worship started almost a century after Sparda left, due to … something. The book called it a demon attack, and reported that it was repelled by the citizens invoking the name of Sparda in prayer.

Initially, Lara thought that 'demon' was just their way of representing outsiders. Except demons didn't seem to refer to outsiders- the history of trade with the mainland was fairly polite, referencing the cities and or countries that the people and goods had come from, and the occasional time there was an attack from the mainland (two attempts at a religious wars (one Christian and one Muslim) both given up due to weather and Fortuna being located in a spot way out of the way of more conveient shipping lanes, and occasional attempt at expansion, also given up because there was no strategical advantage to holding the island) the attackers were again referenced by their city and country or their religion that they believed in.

"Enjoying your studying?" A man's voice asked, and Lara blinked up at the sight of the commander that Vesper had pointed out earlier. He was a little grey at the temples and his skin was rahter weathered, but he looked good for whatever age he was, Lara was guessing forty.

"You've got the most detailed records of any community I've ever seen. Most get the majority of their documents destroyed or lost." Lara admitted. "It's a lot to get through."

"Most of the people here don't even bother reading our history; it's enough for them to learn what's taught at our school." He leaned over to pick up one of her stray notes, a sketch of a picture in the compendium detailing the devil version of Sparda and three odd symbols surrounding him. "You seem eager to learn everything you can, even if you don't believe half of what you read."

"There's usually a more logical or simple explanation to things. Anyone wields an unusual amount of power; they usually get called a demon, demi-god or god." Lara defended, but felt more uneasy when she realized that no one else was in the library.

"Perhaps that's true on the mainland, but I can assure you there's a very real threat. We're instituting a curfew for the next few days; everyone must be home by dusk. I advise you to take that seriously, for your own safety." Lumen placed the sheet down. "I'll walk you to your hotel tonight." He looked at her, and Lara decided not to complain. She closed up the roll top, and pulled on her jacket before following him out the door.

The streets were deserted, eerily so. The sense that something wasn't right seemed to get worse. Lumen seemed to be hyper-vigilant as they walked, and that in turn set her on edge. The walk to her hotel was quiet and seemed to stretch on for much longer than her usual walks home.

"Here we are. No one is allowed out until sunrise. Have a good night." He didn't move, and Lara realized he was waiting for her to go inside.

"Thank you, have a good night as well." Lara offered weakly before hurrying up the stairs and through the doors. The owner of the hotel immediately locked the doors after her, and Lara watched her go to a door that had a small shrine inside. She'd previously assumed it was a closet.

She headed up to her room, and locked the door behind her. She crossed over to close the curtains and paused. Lumen was talking to a strangely (and by that, rather skimpily by mainland standards, let alone Fortuna's) dressed woman fairly heatedly as they walked away from the hotel. She closed the curtains before either could look back and see her watching.

Things weren't as normal in this city as she'd previously thought. Hopefully she wouldn't have to give up any of her research in order to leave. That would be a pain.

And yet, she wanted to know what was happening, something was happening that she didn't think was just a fairytale about things that went bump in the night.

"Don't go poking your nose where it doesn't belong, Croft." Lara scolded herself. Hadn't that been what happened to her father? He'd started believing that old legends were real, and then reality caught up with him.

Lara did not sleep well that night. She kept waking up thinking she could hear motorcycles racing on the street.

* * *

Morning came far too soon, though Lara still waited until she saw people moving about on the street before she got ready for the day.

When she returned to the library, a part of her was surprised to find that absolutely none of her things had been disturbed, no books had been removed, and the librarian was just as friendly as usual. It left her feeling wrong-footed somehow.

With a sigh, she started back on where she had marked the book. Hopefully, whatever was happening wouldn't affect her studies.

She wasn't sure if she was frustrated or relieved when she did discover something wrong with the Compendium.

Pages were missing, and Lara frowned at the Compendium. It wasn't noticeable, there was no gap in the binding, but there was an abrupt subject change from the supposed Hellgate to the construction of the new (current) church. Then later in the book there was another abrupt subject change, this time regarding the defeat of 'devils' which, according to this book at least, were higher level demons. It skipped to Alchemy and weapon forging.

She had a bad feeling about this. Controlling information was not exactly a good thing, especially since the cult seemed to run everything. She was tempted to say something, before remembering the fact that the reference pages were still intact. She might be able to find the original books that way.

It was still something she jotted down in her journal, along with the various references that were written down. For the most part, her feelings of unease started to fade when she did find the referred books in the card catalogue, so she'd be able to find them again when it was time for further study.

Only those feelings came roaring back the next day when she was blocked from going into the church by one of the Order Swordsman, the one that tended to tower over everyone else, and doubly so over Lara, who was non-too pleased at the fact he was purposefully doing so, forcing her to have to crane her neck to look at him.

"Lieutenant Antiphon, I presume? Can I help you?" Lara asked, reluctantly taking a step back in order to not have to crane her neck so much.

"You're not welcome here, outsider." Lieutenant Antiphon practically growled at her.

"I wasn't aware you had restrictions on who could come in." Lara frowned. She had been in the church twice already, and with only a few glances, most had been welcoming, even asking her what she thought of the services.

"We don't need you watching us like some sort of entertainment!" He snapped. "Leave, you are not welcome here!"

Lara decided discretion was the better part of valor here, especially as she was sure they were attracting a crowd.

"Alright, fine, just let Vesper know I was here." Lara turned to leave the churchyard, trying not to give in to the urge to hit the man. Commander Lumen had been creepy, but Lieutenant Antiphon was just someone she'd like to punch out.

"He's a good boy, dear, just … strict." An old woman stopped her on the way out, having heard the argument. "He'd like us to stop trade with outsiders, even knowing of the epidemic thirty years ago when we didn't have the right medicine. I'll let Vesper know if he doesn't tell her."

"Thank you." Lara smiled, and the woman returned it, before Lara left.

Lara was in the middle of sketching the marketplace- a dull boring place when the people weren't there, but that helped her get a better idea of the space- when she heard her name called. Looking up, she smiled and waved at Vesper who rushed up.

"I'm so sorry about Antiphon!" She apologized, taking a seat on the bench Lara was sitting on. "I don't know why he was like that today; he's normally nicer to outsiders."

"It's fine." Lara assured her (but found it odd that the old woman and Vesper had polar opposite views of the same man) and instead showed her the sketches she had done.

"Looks like you've gotten most of the city!" Vesper smiled. "You even got the castle and the peak!"

"Not easy, I can tell you. I'd like to go up there, but I get the feeling it's off limits?" There was no easy way to get a view of the castle unless one was willing to climb buildings. Lara had to use the rather poor vantage point from her hotel.

"Just for now, we occasionally open it as a tourist attraction for those castle tours the mainland does, but I think it's under renovation. They closed it up a couple months ago." Vesper shrugged. "We go there on school trips when the trails are clear, and when someone's officially inducted into the order they spend the night there. It's a pilgrimage sort of thing."

"Just my luck, I choose to come when it's being renovated." Lara lamented with a smile. Perhaps she'd be able to find a tourist map of it. "You were going to show me the school?"

"Right, come on!" Vesper lead the way to the school, happily chattering on how their education system worked and how only a few left to pursue higher level learning (mostly medical as the mainland was too far away in case of an emergency). The schools were rather ordinary, with a morning prayer dedicated to Sparda posted in every room the only surreal thing.

"So, that's the main school. Some are home schooled, especially if they want to go into a trade, and there are learning centers dedicated to the individual trades."

"Alright, and so the bare minimum to get into the order, which I assume is also considered a trade, is?"

"Have to have lived on the island for at least five years, though they're very flexible on that, as well as spend a lot of time training, and be approved by the High Commander." Vesper explained. "Which reminds me, I'm going to busy this week, I'll only be able to have lunch with you, if that's okay?"

"Sure thing, I should probably start packing and neatening things up for the report I have to do."

"Report?" Vesper looked surprised.

"For my anthropology unit. Basically, I just need to describe the regular day-to-day life, what the schools are like and the type of government, as well as parts of the history of the island. That was cleared before I arrived, I'm supposed to write up a report and submit it to both your order and to my own school." Lara explained. "Don't worry, I don't have to write names down, save for the current Vicar."

"I see, do you have to write before you leave, or after?" Vesper played with her hair a little.

"I've been writing it as I go. If you want to read it?"

"No, but I imagine you still don't believe in demons?" Vesper looked at her rather tentatively.

"I'm afraid that does make the report far less interesting." Lara shrugged, not sure why Vesper was so hung up on that.

"… I don't really want you to leave just yet. Not without you seeing things our way …" Vesper admitted.

"Maybe I'm here to remind you that not everyone can be converted. We're still friends despite that, aren't we?"

"Yes, definitely!" Vesper agreed readily. "Oh, I know just the place for lunch tomorrow!" Vesper had to mark the place on her map when her directions got a little too confusing.

Lara's desk was still undisturbed when she finally made her way back to the Library after that. So she didn't think there would be any trouble- just one more week to go, and technically, she could leave early, she'd researched more than enough for her report.

Looking back, she probably should have just left then, before everything that happened.

(But then she wouldn't have gotten her son, and that more than made up for everything.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that Lara has been established, as well as some other important characters, it's now Vergil's turn and the action will pick up.   
> Also, I'm working with the understanding from what I've seen of DMC 3 that Vergil hadn't completely unlocked all his abilities, so, still pushing his boundaries power-wise, though he's more accustomed to using his demon powers than Dante is.

Vergil watched as the island came closer into view. Somewhere on that island his father had once lived, and people worshipped him for sealing the Hellgate, according to the old man who specialized in obscure lore and alchemy for a price- perhaps it was the same gate that he had sacrificed his power and his third sword into.

He'd check it out, it was the best lead he'd had in months.

The island was crescent shaped, the city on one end and some sort of temple on the other. He'd start by exploring the city, someone might say something of interest, or at least direct him to a library he could use.

The cloak was awkward, but necessary, and it seemed no one paid much attention to him.

As he was walking up from the docks warning bells began to ring. Most people quickly scurried to hide, but Vergil kept moving. There was the sound of screams farther away, and Vergil ignored them, eventually the bells sounded again- presumably the all clear signal. He soon found the library.

The doors were unbarred, but there was no one at the front desk. Which was just as well, he didn't want to interact with anyone.

Presumably it was set up with a card catalogue, so it would be simple enough to find the letter S and the name Sparda.

Up until he opened the drawer and discovered there were two drawers devoted to Sparda alone. Annoyed, Vergil went to the H drawer to look up 'Hellgate', and was disapointed again. There were no cards about the Hellgate. A few on 'Hell', but nothing about the Hellgate, and Vergil double-checked that the cards hadn't gotten mixed up.

This was not getting him anywhere; he'd have better luck just browsing the shelves. Vergil reluctantly shed the cloak so he could search unencumbered.

The third book of annotated odes to his father later (titled 'the mysteries of Sparda'), and Vergil was reconsidering his refusal to ask for help. Especially as the books that were likely to contain information seemed to be missing.

Turning down another aisle he finally came upon his first stroke of luck, a table and desk, both stacked with books, a couple he recognized as the ones missing from the Sparda section.

"Finally." Vergil took a step forward, only to halt as a someone responded.

"Beg pardon?" The woman that looked at him was not wearing a hood. In fact she looked completely out of place, even considering the visitors to the island. The two stared at each other for a moment. "Sorry, did you need one of these? I was just getting ready to start putting them back."

"Ah, yes … I need any information on the Hellgate." Vergil was surprised when she frowned.

"You and I both …" She muttered, before putting some books to the side. "Here, these are some books that reference it."

Vergil took the books, and moved over to the other desk that he saw in the room. The woman was busy for a while, before returning to the desk and writing.

Vergil tuned her out at that point, focusing on the books … none of them having the information he wanted on the Hellgate's location, just that his Father had sealed it and ruled well before leaving.

He'd have to explore the city to find it, as well as his Father's castle. He got up to put the books back and looked at the desk the woman had been. It was cleaned off, almost as if she'd never been there, but what caught his attention was a piece of paper on the floor. Picking it up, he found a sketch of the library on one side, and a note on the back. 'Nice place, but supposedly the rarer books are elsewhere.'

Well, perhaps she might have a better lead. He'd just have to track her down to get answers. Shouldn't be too hard, there didn't seem to be many visitors to the island, so he'd just have to find a hotel.

As Vergil exited the library, he noticed the sun was setting, and as he began walking, he heard the warning bells began to ring again. The demons were closer this time. Vergil turned down the street. He'd deal with those later, right now, he needed to find that woman.

It turned out to be rather easy, if only because the first hotel he found had her arguing with one of the order members, this one much bigger than she was. Rather than interfere, he went to the hotel desk to get a room for the night- he probably wouldn't stay longer than the next day, but it would be less suspicious, and it allowed him to listen in.

"I haven't seen Vesper since yesterday at lunch and your repeated questions aren't going to change the fact that I don't know where she is!" She was glaring up at the order member, not backing down.

"If you've tampered with something that you shouldn't have, outsider-!" The man snarled at her.

"I didn't believe demons were real until they attacked us yesterday." She snapped at him, before sighing. "Look, all Vesper said was that she'd be at the Church today, that's where she always says she'll be if I want to find her. If she's not there, then I don't know."

"… Don't leave until she's found." He growled, and left, Vergil watched the woman turn and walk up the stairs. He glanced down at the registrar to sign it, as well as look at the room number of the person who checked in before him.

"Here you are, mister Gliver, I hope you enjoy your stay."

Vergil didn't deign to give the woman an answer, just took his key and walked up the stairs he'd seen the woman go. He took off his cloak once he was out of view of the front desk. Hopefully she would answer the door and he wouldn't have to wait for morning.

He paused in the hallway, reconsidering. Vergil had seen enough of human interactions over the years to learn a few things, and one was that most single women were wary of men that seemed too persistent- with good reason, as several of those encounters had ended with police called. He'd wait for morning, give her back the piece of paper as an excuse to start a conversation … that would go better. Vergil turned and went to the room he'd gotten. He should probably rest while he could.

Morning came slowly, and Vergil headed downstairs as soon as the grey light of dawn began. The front doors of the hotel were locked, and after dropping the key on the counter, Vergil sat down in one of the chairs to wait. The sky outside continued to lighten, and Vergil heard a floorboard creak.

The woman came down the stairs wearing dark clothes, a leather jacket with a grey hooded sweatshirt on underneath, as well as black boots that were fairly well worn. She headed to the door and tensed up when she couldn't open it.

"The sun doth arise and make happy the skies." Vergil stood up. "But it seems we are currently trapped."

"I suppose it does." She frowned.

"You dropped this, I believe." He held out the sketch, she carefully took it. "I'm here to study the Hellgate," He started, but cut himself off as her eyes widened, and she quickly signaled for him to stop talking.

"I can show you my notes on the city, this way." She lead him back up the stairs, but instead of going to her room, she opened a door that lead to a second set of steps, these going straight to the roof.

The door leading to the roof was unlocked, and Vergil frowned at that, why would the front doors be locked, but not the roof?

"You were saying?" She turned to look at him.

"I'm here to study the Hellgate, but it seems all the books have been tampered or removed. I was wondering if you knew anything?"

"Like you said, they all seem to be tampered or removed. Probably so outsiders didn't go looking for it." She took out a small journal which looked to have other papers folded into it, and opened it up to the fifth page. "But they missed one. I read it on my first day here, and it seems it was removed afterwards. The only clue to the location was that Sparda could watch over the gate from his castle." She gestured to the castle that was rather far from the city and difficult to distinguish from the peak. "I doubt they'd build a city over it, but that's the only clue I've got right now. I didn't think to pay it any mind at the time." She pocketed the journal again, and turned to look at the fire escape.

"Were you planning on going there?" Vergil asked as he followed her gaze. "Or are you planning to look for that missing girl?" Her gaze snapped back to him, and it was rather amusing to see her tense up, as if she thought she could fight him. "I have no interest in stopping you, but I could use a guide and perhaps you could use a bodyguard?" This would save time on him having to search for the quickest route to the castle. Then, once he found the gate's location, he'd leave her to go after it.

"If there are any books detailing the Hellgate's location, they're likely to be at the castle or the order's headquarters." The woman frowned. "Vesper offered to show me the Castle and the Hellgate before the demons attacked, and I think her disappearance might be linked to that."

Vergil ignored that, instead gesturing to the fire escape. "My name's Vergil."

"Lara." She looked at the city. "Let's go." She pulled her hood up and led the way down. Vergil donned his cloak which probably disguised him better than her attempt.

Lara guided him through the eerily silent city to what looked like an abandoned dockside factory. "When Vesper showed me the city, she mentioned there was a shortcut to the castle this way." Lara stopped moving, and Vergil looked over to see. Demons were on the bridge that connected the city to the odd gate. "That's odd; the bridge is normally not connected. Unless this is how they're getting into the city?" Lara didn't seem to talking to Vergil when she said the last part, but it was a good hypothesis as any.

"Stay back." He advised, passing the cloak to her and drawing the Yamato. The demons were fairly easy to defeat, but as he turned back he saw Lara watching with wide eyes. "The way's clear now."

Lara walked up to him, offering the cloak back. They continued on in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vergil is … difficult … to write. Like, he's got an honor code, but it's partially buried under that desire for power and strength and … gah, I want to strangle him right now.
> 
> Lara's easier, she's just starting out, and while she does have training, she doesn't yet have the drive, so she'll be easier to show growing … comparatively.


	3. Chapter 3

The silence lasted until they came upon abandoned buildings that surrounded an odd monolith.

Several demons were scattered around it, awkwardly moving in a circle around it.

"What are they doing?" Lara watched them with a frown.

"They're acting rather odd." Vergil agreed, the demons didn't even seem to notice them.

"Looks like there's something engraved on the monolith." Lara started to take a step forward, only for the sheathed sword to block her.

Vergil looked at her, unimpressed, which seemed to be his default with everything in general, occasionally accompanied by disdain and the same look most people got when they stepped in something unpleasant.

Though he did have a point about walking up to a monolith surrounded by demons, now was probably not the best time to be curious.

"Right, Sorry." She apologized, and a sudden hissing sound she had only heard once before had her dropping to the ground and rolling without thinking. She looked up at the sickening sound of claws rending fabric and flesh to see Vergil staggering back and bleeding from his shoulder, cloak on the ground.

He must have been fueled by adrenaline, because that hit didn't stop him. Nor did the other occasional lucky strikes by the demons. Lara forced herself to stop watching, wishing she had listened to Roth about taking a pistol with her. She grabbed the cloak, tossing it and successfully distracting one demon that had lunged at Vergil while his back was turned. Vergil turned and cut it down, briefly making eye contact with her before turning back to the fray. Lara ducked into one of the buildings when he threw his sword, remembering how it defied the laws of physics at one point in the previous battle.

She looked out and was relieved to see Vergil dealing the last blow to the final demon, before common sense caught up to her. "Vergil!" It looked like the demon's claw or whatever had broken off in the wound.

"What?" He glared at her, and she chose to ignore it. He could be angry at her for getting him hurt later.

"I'm so sorry! I should've told you to duck; we need to get you to a doctor!" They could use the cloak for bandages until she could get him actual medical attention. "Let me see how bad it is, what?"

Vergil had grabbed her wrist before she could touch him, and was staring at her as if he'd never seen her before.

"It's fine," he said, "watch." And he gripped the end of the claw and yanked it out.

Lara yelped, and for a moment she thought she was going to throw up at the blood, - and was that bone?- before the wound knitted up on its own, even the jacket repaired itself. "What the …"

"I'm half demon." Vergil admitted, letting her wrist go and turning to look at the monolith.

"Didn't that hurt?" Lara asked, still a little horrified at how casual he'd been about ripping the claw out.

Vergil paused midstride, before continuing on as if he hadn't heard her. Lara decided she wouldn't continue to press, instead she walked over to the monolith. This, at least was something she knew how to do. There were several symbols carved into it, but what attracted her attention was the hammer and chisel on the ground next to it. Another scan showed that some of the symbols were deeper than the others.

"They're remarking these symbols … looks like symbols for the cardinal directions have been done, and this one is 'path', I think, I saw it on one of the old maps in the library … looks pretty basic though." Lara frowned.

"This one is Gate, and this might be world. Could it be an attempt at replicating the gate?" Vergil looked at the symbols as well, pointing out two in particular. "How long has this been here?"

For an answer, Lara used the hammer and chisel to scratch the monolith, revealing a far lighter mark.

"Giveing the weathering? At least a decade, maybe longer." Lara chose to take the hammer and chisel with her. "But it's not the gate we're looking for." Lara frowned.

"Then let's continue on." Vergil waited for Lara to pass him the cloak.

"Right … one moment." Lara went over to the service truck she saw, and looked into the glove box. "Ah-ha. Survey Map." She opened it up, and promptly frowned. "Looks like the only way through is through the mine. The road they normally used has been washed out." She folded up the map and pocketed it, along with a small flashlight and a flare gun. "Let's go, looks like they've got lights that work." She lead the way in, trying not to think of falling rocks.

It was Vergil who broke the silence after a while. "You haven't asked."

"Asked what?" Lara looked at him, baffled.

"About me being half demon." Vergil looked at her. "Most humans have a reaction to that."

"Honestly? I'm more relieved I didn't get you killed." Lara admitted, and to be honest, at this point she wouldn't be surprised if other mythological creatures were real, this island seemed dead set on upending her worldview. "And it's your choice if you want to tell me, in my experience, families are complicated."

"…" Vergil turned away before he said anything. "What can you tell me about the castle?"

"It was completed two years after Sparda defeated the demons on this island and sealed the hell gate." Lara latched onto the change in topic quickly. "By all accounts, Sparda ruled well, so much so that despite him leaving, no one wanted another ruler. There are of course, a few secret passages that have been discovered over time, but at least one was blocked off for being too dangerous to go through." Lara looked at the map real quick, before leading them away from a cave in. "There was a rumor that Sparda might have left treasure behind, but no one's discovered any. But it's odd," Lara had to cut herself off as she slipped on a loose rock.

"What is?"

"Some went looking for Sparda- seems to be a generational thing- and the last time was almost twenty years ago." Lara frowned at the path. "The one prior to that, found proof that Sparda had been on another island to save it from demons. But the last time … there isn't any record of the journey. It only has them leaving, I assume the page was removed as well."

"You think they might've found him?" Vergil looked at her, his hand tightening on the katana.

"Possibly, or something else happened." Lara paused as she saw more demons in the mine ahead.

"Like what?" Vergil drew the katana.

"Perhaps whatever it was that made them want to copy the hellgate." Lara looked at him. "It takes time to be as thorough in removing information as they did."

Vergil gave a slight nod, before attacking the demons that had finally turned their attention on them.

Lara moved to find some cover, only for one of the demons to notice her. Lara yelped, barely dodging the scythe-like arm. In a move that was more adrenaline than pre-planned, Lara swung the hammer at the scythe, just barely keeping it from impaling her (or perhaps the momentum of the swing actually shifted her body out of the way of the scythe, she was never quite sure later which it was), though it definitely took a chunk out of her side. She wasn't sure if she screamed, but her throat suddenly hurt.

The demon was suddenly gone, and Lara watched Vergil follow through, Yamato slicing the demon in two. Lara glanced down at her side. The lighter sweatershirt underneath was torn and starting to stain red. Trying not to puke Lara estimated that the wound wasn't more than a couple of inches long- mostly muscle, not organs (maybe? Hopefully?)- and it wasn't too wide.

It hurt like hell though, and Lara pressed her hand to it, before forcing herself up to her feet. Staying here was a bad idea.

"You're injured." Vergil was in front of her, looking at her as if she'd lost her mind.

Well, if the newspapers and tabloids were right, it was hereditary, so that was probably why her response was, "I'll be fine, it's not that deep. Besides … it looks like that castle might be slightly closer than the city."

Vergil looked at the map (When did he get it? She didn't remember giving it to him), and his scowl deepened as he compared the distance from their position to the city as well as the castle. A second later, Lara blinked at the sound of something tearing, and a small bundle of fabric was held in front of her.

"It … should keep you from bleeding out." Vergil offered, and Lara grimaced as she had to move her sweatshirt and undershirt and quickly folded one end to press against the wound and wrapped the rest around her torso, pulling both undershirt and sweatshirt down. She was still bleeding, so she pressed her hand to wound, hoping to keep enough pressure on it that she wouldn't bleed out before they got to the castle.

"Quick question, demons aren't like sharks right?"

"…" He stared at her for a moment, before shaking his head. "You'll need to clarify that."

"Open wounds don't attract them, right?"

"Some do, others don't."

Lara glared at Vergil for giving the most unhelpful answer she had ever heard.

"Lead the way." Vergil ignored the glare, and Lara rolled her eyes.

A quick glance down showed the head of the hammer had broken off and the handle had splintered, rendering it pretty much useless. She'd have to use the chisel the next time one of them attacked her, the flare gun wasn't useful in enclosed spaces. Something glinted near the rocks of one of the collapsed tunnels, and she picked up a fairly new pickaxe. She slipped it through her belt, just in case.

"Damnit." Lara stopped as they rounded the corner. "Just what I need."

"You should go back, you'll only slow me down." Vergil suggested, and Lara laughed.

"Sorry, but as I said, the castle is still closer." Lara grimaced as she picked out a path. There were several ladders and trusses, as well as a few platforms she could rest on. "Hope you're good at Free hand, looks like part of this might be falling down." She took out the pickaxe and began to use it as a climbing aid. Probably not her best idea, but the demons didn't seem all that interested in climbing.

Behind her, she heard the sounds of Vergil fighting demons, and decided to focus on climbing rather than looking down, or the burn in her side.

When she reached the top she was breathing hard. She looked back down and saw Vergil sheathing the katana again. He looked up at her, and then suddenly ran at the rock wall. Lara took a few steps away from the ledge, watching as Vergil used the momentum to jump up a lot higher than a normal person, using the various ledges and old platforms boost his jumps.

He slipped slightly on the final ledge, but caught himself, straightening as if he hadn't just slipped.

Any other time, Lara might have laughed, but she was feeling cold and wasn't sure if that was related to climbing while injured. Or it might be the altitude, as a quick glance down the exit tunnel showed snow. Lara grimaced a little, it looked like the wind was blowing sideways. But first, she had to say something to Vergil. "Thank you."

"For what?" Vergil looked at her.

"For not running off and leaving me behind when you could have." Lara smiled at him, the smile getting a little wider at the look of shock on his face. "You're quite the gentleman." She took a step forward. "We follow this, it should lead us straight to the castle. Then I can find Vesper and you can find any information of the Hellgate."

"After you." Vergil followed behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep second guessing myself with how to write Vergil. This is the version I'm happiest with, though, so I hope you all enjoy it as well.


	4. Chapter 4

Vergil watched Lara as, after about a minute in the cold, the human woman had pulled up her hood and started trembling. She was still stubbornly moving forward.

He could have left her in that mine. It wasn't like he really needed her help anymore, and she was injured, she was only going to slow him down.

But at the same time, she had kept him from getting hit from behind, had worried about him and didn't care that he was half-demon … that was rare, for someone not to care about that.

The usual response was avoidance, or attempting to shoot him as well.

Not to mention, he was pretty sure that she might still have information he could use, so letting her die now would be a waste. Vergil took the cloak and dropped it on top of her. The hood actually landed on top of her head, and when she turned to look up at him it actually kept most of her face covered.

Vergil felt his lips twitch. "I don't get as cold as you do. I'm pretty sure you don't need to frostbite on top of being wounded."

"Thanks." Lara wrapped it around her a little better. She was still trembling, and Vergil looked ahead to see white towers jutting up out of the snow.

"Looks like we're almost there." The towers lead the way to the bridge and the first view of the castle was impressive, even if the bridge only went a short distance from the cliff. "The bridge is out."

"Of course it is." Lara grumbled. "Though it's odd, why have a bridge this high up? The part of the castle it connects to would be high up as well, and that's no good against attacks …"

"Is the architecture of castles something you know about?"

"I'm studying to be an archaeologist. Anthropology is a side note." Lara looked up at him again, this time moving the hood to actually see him. "Most castles are built for defense, but having a bridge up here like this … wouldn't be very defensible."

"I'm sure there's a purpose-" Vergil paused, hearing something that sounded like stone breaking.

"Vergil, the tower-" Lara yelped as he grabbed her, not bothering to worry about her injury. The bridge collapsed and Vergil jumped, landing hard and almost overbalancing.

Three white demons with wings and ice powers flew in a circle above, already descending.

"Find cover!" Vergil ordered, and Lara scrambled back. He watched as she dove back into the rubble.

The demons swooped down, and he devil triggered and leapt up to meet them. As he defeated the first and moved onto the second using the spectral swords, he saw the third break away and lunge at Lara's hiding place.

She'd wedged herself under the rubble, so it clawed at the entrance of her hiding place, and he smiled as the demon screeched, suddenly on fire thanks to the flare gun she'd picked up.

Before it could lunge at her again, He cut it in half with the yamato, the summoned spectral swords finally finishing off the second demon. He landed and turned back.

"It's safe."

"That's a relative term." Lara informed him as she crawled out. "I hope there are medical supplies in that castle."

Lara didn't mention that he had changed forms, so she must not have seen it. He watched her place both the pickaxe and the flare gun into their places, hand going to her injured side.

"Your injury-" Vergil realized. She'd yelped when he'd grabbed her, but he'd been more concerned with the bridge crumbling around them to pay it too much mind.

"It opened up again. I'd just gotten it to stop bleeding after that climb, too." Lara grimaced, standing up with one hand still clutching her side. "We better hurry, there's going to be more of those things around."

"Let's hope the castle isn't overrun as well." Vergil almost reached out to help her, but stopped himself.

"With my luck?" Lara didn't seem to notice, so Vergil just matched her pace as she moved to the Castle. "At this point, I'm going to be stealing a bow from the armory- probably won't do much, but it might at least drive those things off, there's only one flare left."

"Aim for the eyes, if you can." Vergil advised. "Though it might be better if we could get you a devil arm instead."

"A what?" Lara asked.

"Powerful enough devil's will grant you their soul, turning into a weapon or armor upon their defeat." Vergil explained. "Occasionally whoever defeated them doesn't pick them up, or dies, so they're left in that weapon state."

"Why do I get the feeling the catch is I have to defeat one myself?" Lara asked, sounding amused.

"They tend not to work as well for someone they deem weaker than them, might even curse them." Vergil admitted. "Though it's also possible we'll find weapons forged from demons here- Sparda was one to teach humans how to defend themselves from demons, if the order hasn't taken them, there may still be a few they've ignored or forgotten." Vergil looked up at a screech but it seemed for now the demons were holding their distance. Or they'd found other prey. "Let's get you inside, first. Your friend is in there?" Lara's friend might know more first aid- he'd never needed it, so he'd never bother studying it save for a few things about poison.

"… It's possible. She said she was going to see if I could see the castle, but then the demons attacked yesterday … I've got a bad feeling about this." She looked at the castle. "I just know there's going to be answers there, even if I'm not gonna like them."

"…" Vergil frowned, "I'll stay until you find either your friend or a weapon to defend yourself, but no longer, I need to find the Hellgate."

"Thanks. If she's here, she'll probably be in the library … she knows that's the first place I'll go."

"Here I thought archaeologists went on adventures for buried treasure." Vergil admitted.

"Regretably, most of our time is actually spent in libraries and labs. We do get called on locations sometimes though."

Vergil got the door open, and Lara scooted in before he could do more than a brief look around.

"Oh, now that's a bit twee." Lara muttered.

Vergil looked up and spotted the large portrait that hung on the far side of the entrance hall. It looked like they had converted it into a church as well, except there was no statue of Sparda here, but instead a portrait of a man. "Who is it?"

"The Vicar … Sanctus. Most churches I'm aware of that might do portraits of their leaders, they're never that big or in such a prominent place, usually they're in a side hall showing the previous leaders of that church."

"Something to be concerned about?"

"It's odd and in bad taste, but I don't think we should be concerned about the man's ego." Lara sighed. "Let's find the library, if Vesper's not there I'll help you with the research about the gate."

"Don't suppose you have a map of this place?" Vergil asked.

"Actually, yes, it's a copy of an old tourist map." Lara pulled out the small book and removed a folded up piece of paper. "It does have the library marked on it."

He took the map to look it over. "Looks like it's this way."

"Lead the way." Lara offered, and Vergil noticed she was listing a little to one side.

"Here." Vergil held out his hand. Lara blinked at it. "I can at least make sure you don't fall over."

Her hand was shaking when she took his hand, but given that it was also freezing he was pretty sure she wasn't nervous about it. He was cold, and he could certainly survive worse temperatures.

"You're warm." She murmured.

"You're freezing actually." Vergil hesitated, before pulling her along. "This way."

There was hissing and shrieking the instant they left the main hall.

"Of course." Lara grumbled, and started to pull away.

"Stay close." Vergil tugged her closer instead, summoning the spectral swords around them both. "Let's avoid getting you more injured, shall we?"

"I'd like that." Lara leaned a little more into him. "We find a fireplace, let me know."

"Why?" Vergil sent several swords into the demons that appeared.

"Cauterize the wound, I can't keep running the risk of it opening."

"Cauterize?" Vergil paused. "You want to burn yourself?"

"Want is a strong word, if you have a way of healing me, let me know, otherwise that's probably my best bet." Lara blinked as Vergil let go of her hand and actually wrapped an arm around her, a second later he pushed her down slightly to take out a demon that had lunged from behind them. "It's not like I'm asking you to do it, just let me know if you find a fireplace." Lara wasn't sure if she was in shock, or even what that felt like. She was tired and her side felt like it was burning.

"Alright." Vergil agreed, but didn't admit to having past a few rooms already that had fires already lit in the fireplaces. "Library's here."

It was a nice room, Lara looked around, and spotted a scarf draped over the back of a chair. There were several scattered throughout.

"That's Vesper's scarf. She was here … I'll look for her in a bit." Lara sat down with a deep breath. "Hellgate information might be mixed with the histories, I think, not all have titles on the cover so we'll have to guess … give me a minute."

Vergil turned away, already looking around the room as well. He spotted several tomes on Alchemy sitting out, and a slightly familiar star shaped relic that was next to it. "A vital star mold …" he picked it up, and paused, glancing over at Lara who had closed her eyes for a moment and was looking paler than a human should be.

He picked the relic up with both hands and focused on it. It wasn't easy, he'd spent more time learning how to use his demonic powers for offensive purposes, but it wasn't too much different as slowly the star-like relic began to glow. Hopefully, this would work, they didn't have time for him to search out the materials to actually make a vital star. The mold would have to do.

"Lara." Vergil frowned when she didn't respond and turned to see her slumped a little in the chair. "Lara, I need you to wake up." He crouched down in front of her, shaking her slightly. She blinked awake. "I … I need you to press this to your side, you'll need to move the bandage." He urged softly, Lara sluggishly moved the sweatshirt and the undershirt and grimaced as she had to tug the makeshift bandage out of the wound. Vergil had to guide her hand and help her press it against the wound.

For a moment, nothing happened and he wondered if he was going to have to find the ingredients to make it afterall, then both the star and the wound lit up. When the light of the star faded, the wound glowed for a few moments more, and Lara removed it to reveal that the wound had healed without leaving much of a scar.

"… Wow." Lara managed. She looked at the star in her hand. "What is this?"

"It's a mold to create a healing container … My mother called them Vital Stars, made for converting demon energy into healing energy. They were a project she and my father were working on… I thought most of them were destroyed." Vergil frowned. "I don't know how one got here, demons wouldn't have bothered with them." Another mystery for another time, and one he wasn't willing to dwell on.

That's when he realized how close he was to her, and quickly stood up, taking a few steps back.

Lara got up, fixing her clothes and handing the star back. "Right, well, let's find that Hellgate, if there's any other information, we should check it out as well." Lara looked at the books on the table briefly. "This is all about Alchemy and weapons forging. Including an inventory of the armoury … Makes sense if they're hunting demons." Lara looked at the shelves. She felt a little like she'd down several shots of expresso, which was weird enough. There was also the odd certainty that if she dwelt on it too long she'd start thinking about things she didn't want to remember. She spotted two of the books that might have answers.

"A Treatise on Alchemy, including works by Ostanes, Kanada, Paracelsus, N. Flamel, and A. Lowell." Vergil looked at the desk, picking up one book as he read the title allowed. "You know how rare this collection on Alchemy is?"

"I'm guessing extremely rare? I recognize only two of those names." Lara admitted, she was sitting on the ladder with two books open on her lap and a third in her hands. Vergil recognized the small pocket journal balancing on top of the two books. She didn't even look up from the books she was studying.

"It was banned and burned … for containing details on demon summoning and subjugation, including a how-to construction of a hellgate." Vergil put the book down. "The last known person to have a copy was found dead and the copy stolen."

"… Please tell me that's not the copy from your story." Lara actually looked up from the books.

"Hard to say." Vergil admitted. "But someone's been busy." He picked up one of the histories and started reading. It ended up detailing an epidemic thirty years ago that had wiped out half the island before mainland doctors had arrived. Not useful, neither was the next book. For a long time, neither bothered speaking to each other, too wrapped up in the books they'd found. It was as he reached for the fifth book that Lara spoke up.

"Vergil, your parents names … are they Eva and Sparda?"

"Where did you-" Vergil couldn't quite stop the growl that came out of him.

"'On the fourteenth day of exploration, we came upon the city of Redgrave, there we Learned of a woman named Eva, married to our savior Sparda with twin sons Dante and Vergil. We planned to contact them the fifteenth.'" Lara read, her voice significantly softening. "'The Fifteenth, we approached Sparda, our savior, only for him to refuse our requests of aid.'" She flipped the page, then looked at him.

"Keep reading." Vergil snapped, he didn't like that look of pity. There was a flash of fire in her eyes at the way he spoke to her, but instead of snapping at him she turned back to the book.

"'On the seventeenth day, Rotare came up with a plan, if Sparda would not help us, we would take one of the sons to raise within the order.' There's a note saying that the rest of the report was illegible, save for 'Sparda forgive us, his consort is terrifying,' and, 'The ones that were too slow were killed'. Then there's a suggestion of having your family watched, and the rest is, I assume, reports that followed." She held out the book. "I don't think you want me reading those."

"Please." Vergil didn't take it, if he did, he might throw the book into the fireplace. "If I take it, I will … just tell me if they know what happened to Sparda." Vergil knew his father was dead, it was how the Yamato and the Rebellion answered so quickly to he and his brother. There was the sound of pages turning.

"Here, 'Sparda left his family, heading east, his watcher followed.' No move was made on your family, but … the next entry is almost a month later. 'Sparda has not returned, nor has Parce, if they were alive we should have heard by now.' That's the second to last entry."

"The last reports a demon attack and the deaths of myself, my mother and my brother, correct?" Vergil turned as Lara slid down the ladder.

"Just your mother, actually. It says two little boys running with swords bigger than they were left in opposite directions." Lara sighed. "It ends with suggestions of hunting the children and bringing them into the order, but those were denied by the previous vicar, if there's been any change to that, it's not noted down here."

"So, no one knows who killed him." Vergil looked at the book in her hands. "And they know about my brother and I …" He gripped the Yamato tightly. Dante had done a decent job in hiding, but not good enough, if Vergil could find him, this order could as well. Without knowing their reason for their interest in him and his brother, Vergil was uneasy, he'd helped his brother get stronger against demons, but humans were a different problem altogether, his brother liked humans too much to actually kill any. "Is that the only book about us?"

"I don't know, it's the only one I've seen. You decide what to do with it, I've got a lead on the Hellgate I need to follow." Lara placed the offending book on the desk.

"Thought you'd leave and look for your friend by now." Vergil picked up the book, but didn't immediately throw it into the fire like he wanted to do, there were probably more names here, people he had to get rid off before they could hunt him and his brother.

"Croft curse, I'm afraid, we can't leave a mystery alone." Lara had the pocket journal out again, and was studying different books.

"Doesn't sound like a curse to me." Vergil knew quite a bit about curses, and that was not one of them. He pocketed the book of reports about his family, he'd go through this later after he'd found the location of the hellgate.

"Perhaps not, but given that I am on an island of demon worshippers that is under attack by demons and the cult is apparently okay with kidnapping and possible murder. At this point, the best I can do is learn as much as I can so maybe they don't kill me when they find out I've snuck out." Lara sighed, tugging slightly on the ladder. "Anyway, help me move this ladder, it's stuck and that," She pointed to a large book bound in brown leather, "looks like a copy of their history compendium, which should have the information we need. You check out that book, just in case." She pointed at a black book with the roman numerals 'IV' stamped on the spine. "That should be another surveying journal, they've all been black leather with roman numerals, that's the only one missing from the city library."

"Are you alright?" Vergil didn't bother much with human interaction, but he was pretty sure most weren't that blasé about being killed, also she seemed … off somehow, in a way that he wasn't sure was normal for her.

"I think I might be having a reaction to that method of healing, I have a lot of energy." Lara admitted. "Which for some reason makes me feel … indestructible, which I know I'm not so I'm probably going to have a panic attack once this wears off. Though this does make studying easier, much better than espresso."

Vergil helped her move the ladder. "You read a lot, then?"

"Mostly for school, not much for fun anymore. You?" Lara asked as she climbed the ladder.

"When I'm not researching demonology, yes, it's better than interacting with humans." Vergil watched her balance on the ladder while pulling out the thick tome.

"Favorite genre?" Lara caught herself before she ended up falling off the ladder with the book, it was a lot heavier than it looked.

"Poetry. Preferably those by William Blake." Vergil held out his hands and Lara passed him the thick tome before coming down the ladder and reclaiming it. "And when you read for fun?"

"Mysteries, mostly. Agatha Christie's usually enjoyable. Damn." Lara had opened the book while she was talking.

"Not the right one?" Vergil picked up the survey journal and began to glance through it, looking for any mention of the word 'gate'.

"Apparently Vesper failed to tell me the compendium was written in two parts. Seems someone decided to update." Lara frowned as she flipped through. "Or include in more detail the types of demons … aha! 'In addition to the Hellgate there are three lesser demon gates, one in the old mining town, the oldest in Mitis Forest and the most recent … in the castle courtyard.'" Lara frowned. "Once again, mention of the Hellgate has been removed. It jumps to the celebration of the completion of the church."

"… This is little better, it says the hellgate's located on one of the island's promontories opposite the Mitis demon gate."

"… Opposite?" Lara pulled out her map. "I don't suppose they gave a direction?"

Vergil turned book so the open pages were facing Lara. There was a lot of water damage to the book, save for the space where locations were written. "I have a suspicion this is a recent event."

Lara took the book and frowned. "I can't tell if that's supposed to be an N or a W."

"Does it matter?"

"Nope. Here." She pulled out the notebook and her basic map of the island. "Either way we define opposite, there are two locations, the city or the order of the sword headquarters. Of those two, my money would be the order headquarters … they might have started as a guard around the gate that was changed into a demon hunting order."

"So, how to we get there from here?" Vergil looked at the map.

"Well, that's where I can't help you. There's got to be a route from the castle to there but there's none marked." Lara sighed. "… If this is how you feel all the time, how do you even sleep?" She grimaced and Vergil blinked at the non sequiter.

"I don't need as much sleep as humans do. It's why I read." Vergil paused. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes, fine, probably shouldn't use that relic unless my injuries are a lot worse than that."

"You weren't what I'd call in perfect health." Vergil stared at her. "And that particular star doesn't heal severe injuries, as I recall."

"Alright, but that relic doesn't seem to regulate the energy so it healed me then still kept giving me energy, which is a flaw because I currently don't need it and if I'm not focusing on something everything gets a little … overwhelming." Lara grimaced. "So, more injuries would be better, though I definitely would prefer not being injured at all." She looked at him for a long moment and seemed to be about to say something else before she shook her head and looked at the scarf, moving towards it.

Vergil watched her pick it up examining a torn edge in concern, before turning back to the relic. He hesitated a moment before charging it again. It would probably be a good idea for her to have an insurance plan if they separated, as the demons seemed to be getting more prolific the farther they got from the City, and it would be a waste if she died now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I realized from the timeline … We don't actually know when Sparda left or what happened to him. He just 'disappears' presumably before the boys 8th (or was it ninth? Need to check that) birthday. Grant it, the story is really about Dante (and Vergil) but what little we get is vague at best, and the most likely explanation is death. And all we know about Eva is she loved her kids, Dante's snapping to trish that she 'doesn't have her (Eva's) fire' and presumably, she loved Sparda. (Also, there was some tie in to Bayonetta by the original creator, namely that Eva was a member of the witch order from that game, who had a contract with Sparda. I've sort of referenced it by having the vital stars be a project that the two worked on, but that's the only reference since that's technically not canon anymore.)
> 
> I'm giving side effects to vital stars, this plays in later.


	5. Chapter 5

Antiphon was agitated as he walked into the meeting room looking for his commander. Vesper had gone missing, and now the outsider had gone missing as well. It had been bad enough that Vesper had spent so much time with the outsider, but for an outsider to involve themselves in their affairs was not ideal.

The mainland had been content in letting them do whatever they wanted as long as they allowed their island to be used for tourists and paid taxes, but with boats getting faster and weather predictions getting better, there were less and less ways of ensuring that the mainland wouldn't bother with them.

That outsider was supposed to prove to the mainland that while the island was 'eccentric' it was not dangerous. A way to have the mainland forget about them after having to call for aid after the illness that had forced their hands. If she was killed by demons, questions would be raised.

And yet it seemed like he was the only one worried about Vesper and the Outsider, for when he arrived, Lumen was laughing at something the sole swordswoman of the order was saying.

Quite frankly, Antiphon had never cared for the woman known as Regina, she always insisted on getting too close to him and attempting to hang off him. Her recent change in her choice of dress left quite a bit to be desired as well, a sleeveless dress-like tunic and thigh-high boots; the handful of scars on her exposed umber skin certainly proved that dressing that way was a mistake.

"Commander, this is no time for levity, Vesper's been missing for too long and now the Outsider has disappeared as well!" Antiphon growled, becoming more irritated when all that got was a smile and a dismissal.

"Don't worry, the outsider will be fine, by now she's on her way to the castle, and I'll be meeting her there." Regina smiled. "I'm sure Vesper's fine, she's a big girl after all." Regina chuckled.

"All rise in the presence of his Holiness."

Sanctus entered the room, one eyebrow briefly raising at the sight of the three of them. "Please sit, I'm sure we're all aware of our tight schedule, have the demons been cleared from the city?"

"Yes your holiness, We've finally routed them and fixed the bridge. We may have to stop using that entrance for the forseeable future, at least until we can figure out why there's been such an influx of demons from the Mitis' gate." Antiphon reported. "The castle is not likely to be safe either."

"Understood. Please continue protecting the city until Lumen has thinned out the demons in the Mitis forest." Sanctus dismissed Antiphon, who reluctantly bowed and walked away. "I trust that you two have discovered the reason for this increase of activity?"

"It seems that by manipulating the key in the gate, we can increase the amount of demons that come through. It's an easy fix, but we wanted a distraction, didn't we?" Regina shrugged.

"I'll fix it when Regina goes to rendezvous with our outsider, it's been enjoyable fighting demons that are worth a challenge."

"Duty before pleasure, Commander Lumen, you two best complete your missions, and then we can discuss more difficult hunts." Sanctus ordered.

"As you command." Lumen bowed, taking it as a dismissal, Regina followed behind.

Sanctus watched the two go, waiting for them to leave before leaning back. "Enter."

Vesper entered, glancing around briefly before walking over. "Your Holiness, is everything going well?"

"It appears so. You're certain about this girl?"

"Lara's proven to be willing to learn as much as she can before making a judgement, if Antiphon hadn't rushed me away after the attack, I would have a better gauge." Vesper admitted. "And we need an outsider we can trust to find the swords of Sparda, she's good at research, found things I didn't know about."

"That could very well be a double-edged sword." Sanctus warned.

"And if she turns out to be unwilling, we could always use her as part of our ascension experiments- she'd have to help us then." Vesper shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"She does have to leave the island." Sanctus reminded her.

"Then we send Regina after her and bring her back. Make sure her disappearance isn't tied to us." Vesper smiled. "I hope we can keep her though, she's been the most fun I've had in a long time- well, since you had me recruit Regina."

"Any word from Rotare on when the prototypes will be ready?" Sanctus asked, and Vesper touched a new necklace around her neck.

"The active gate is interfering with the control mechanisms, but once we close it, there's nothing that will stop us." Vesper promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, anyone surprised? Vesper was based on a woman at one of the old church's I went to who I swear, was convinced she was a living saint that could convert anyone, (she always used 'I' when talking about converting people, 'I was able to bring them to God' and etc, to give you an idea of how much on the 'wrong-o' meter she was) she gave me the creeps and I'm a born catholic (hint, if someone starts off by 'I bet I can change your mind' or 'I've convinced others' just walk away, find an excuse and walk away or it will not end well).
> 
> Also, a common tactic for cults is to get someone alone and isolated so it's easier to sway them, as well as keep them from reaching out to anyone else. Especially if the person in question is rich.
> 
> Anyway, I decided in the begining I wanted Vesper to be a twisted version of Kyrie, so there you go.
> 
> So, Credo and 'Gloria' were at one point meant to be actually villains before the writers changed things up so Kyrie and Nero's romance didn't get messed up from him killing her brother, and I guess decided to make Trish 'Gloria' for funsies? I don't know, I would've liked a boss battle against Gloria. Lumen and Regina are how I imagined they'd have turned out if they'd actually been evil.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you due to the fact that I am currently lost in the castle during my own DMC 4 playthrough. I am also stuck because for some reason, one section with Nero has him being a little slow on a time puzzle. (Not sure if it's the game or me at this point)

Vesper’s scarf didn’t yield anything new, the corner had been torn so presumably there was a piece somewhere. There was one of the armory inventory pages on the chair as well, but why would Vesper be reading about the armory?

It was a decent distraction, though, as it kept Lara from asking Vergil questions about his family, though since Sparda was a real person, a real devil, that made a good bit of her previous research even more interesting. She’d have to go back through her notes for the name of the island where the cult had previously tracked Sparda to.

"Here."

Lara blinked as the suddenly glowing relic was held in front of her face. "Vergil?"

"We split up, you're not going to be able to survive long, this would at least give you a chance to run." Vergil pointed out. "Take it."

"Thanks." Lara carefully put it away in one of her pockets. "It looks like Vesper was reading about the armory, so that's my next stop, may I have the map back?"

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"No, but I don't exactly have a choice." Lara sighed. "Vergil, may I have the map back?"

Vergil frowned at her, looking extremely reluctant. Lara held out her hand expectantly.

"… I said I stick with you until you found a weapon to defend yourself with. I'll give you the map after that." Vergil still looked reluctant as he spoke.

"Alright, then." Lara sighed, her eyes darted over the remaining books before she visibly shook her head and refocused on him. "So, you like William Blake?" She asked as she headed for the library door.

"I'm aware it's not exactly popular thing to admit to." Vergil followed, picking up the report on his family and pocketing it as he went.

Both Vergil and Lara would have preferred to remain in the library, there were undoubtedly things in there that would have given them more information, but both knew that eventually, someone would come looking, and neither were interested in getting caught.

"Actually, my last literature class had a unit on Poets, William Blake was definitely the most interesting." Lara looked at him, already pulling her flashlight out. "Several of the others' choice of essay was comparing the songs of innocence and experience. How they compared and contrasted each other."

"That's the easiest thing to do, I've noticed." Vergil had looked up some analytics of Blake's works over the years. "Did you do the same?"

"No, I focused on his use of mythology for his poems." Lara gave him a wry smile. "As well as the mythology he made up, he's not an easy to poet to read without some basics in mythology and religion."

"Or history, given the time period he was writing." Vergil agreed. "Doesn't help that several of his works were destroyed after his death for heresy."

"Nor does the fact he readily admitted to having visions and occasionally conversing with the dead." Lara paused, her flashlight catching a rather gruesome painting. "He probably would have liked this place, given his own study of gothic buildings."

"Probably." Vergil agreed. "So for your paper, you would've read the books of Urizen and Ahania."

"And the Songs of Los, I nearly gave up and went with the comparison instead. I can't remember the names of the other poems I used, but those were the main ones." Lara admitted. She started around the next corner, then suddenly threw herself back, narrowly dodging the blade attached to the scarecrow like demon.

Vergil had to move around her to cut it. "At least you don't yell anymore when they appear."

"At this point, I'm getting used to it. Or it's the excess energy." Lara pulled the pickaxe from her belt. "So, you have any of Blake memorized?"

"A few. Mostly the Proverbs of Hell." Vergil followed her as they continued on.

"Any suitable to this place?" Lara asked.

"'A dead body revenges not injuries'." Was his response. "I need to think a little bit for more, but that's the one that's currently on my mind."

"I wonder why." Lara took the next corner and paused. "Looks like we've gotten turned around. That's the courtyard."

"And the second Demon gate, shall we check it out?"

"Since we're here." Lara smiled at him and Vergil took the lead. Lara tilted her head briefly at the graveyard, but refocused on the monolith fairly quickly. "This is already restored."

"Including what you might call the keyhole." Vergil pointed it out. "It's a generic gate, depending on what devil arm they can find, that's where the gate will open to."

"Meaning?" Lara looked at the keyhole. She hadn't noticed this on the previous monolith, but one of the areas that jutted out had fairly intricate carvings, most were replicated on the monolith itself.

"The Divine Comedy has hell being in sections, which it is. So if a devil from one section becomes a devil arm, this gate will only open to that section of the demon world."

"I see." Lara traced the carvings gently. "Think they know that or are they just guessing?"

"If they can read, then they should know that." Vergil frowned. "They'll be after devil arms in order to open it."

"How easy are they to find?"

"I know where to find several, there are people that collect them. There are even a few in museums." Vergil shrugged. "They do tend to drive the owners insane or curse them, even if they're not being used."

"Hmm." Lara frowned, then glanced up at a screech. "I wonder why there aren't any guards here."

"What do you mean?"

"The order is supposed to be a demon hunting order, yet one of their 'pilgrimage' sites is overrun by demons. Either they've all been killed or they've abandoned the area for some reason."

"…" Vergil hadn't noticed anything strange, but Lara's observation was an astute one. "There are fireplaces active."

"They'd have to be, otherwise they'd never be able to maintain the temperature inside the building. But there should be people here to monitor the fires." Lara pulled out the flare gun and shot one of the descending frosts. Vergil cut it and the other two down, and watched as the fire sizzled out.

"They could be hiding from the demons." Vergil offered, leading the way back inside.

"I hope so, but you think we'd have run into someone by now." Lara took the lead in order to get back to the main hall. "Quick question, does Holy water work, or is that a myth?"

"It depends, the stronger demons might not even react to it, but on low level full demons it can be devastating, why?" Vergil watched her pick up some vials of holy water from the box by the fountain.

"Looks like they regularly bring these here to be filled. Looks like the box was tipped over."

"Perhaps your friend came here to fill them?"

"Why would her scarf be in the library though and torn to boot?" Lara frowned. "Something's not adding up and I don't know what." She checked over the vials.

"… 'Expect poison from standing water'." Vergil met her eyes. "Just a thought." He turned away to look over the map.

"In that case, I may be sticking with you until you find the Hellgate." Lara stood up. "If you don't mind."

"As long as you help me find it, I think I could tolerate your company." Vergil folded the map back up. "Let's go, looks like the armory's this way."

"Alright." Lara followed him, but briefly frowned as she glanced around the main hall before shrugging. "Let's see if they have anything here. Vesper claimed the castle was closed for renovations, that could include restorations of items as well."

The demons that appeared this time were rather strange, an odd mix of skeletal and reptilian, but what caught both of their attentions was the fact they were wearing shreds of clothes, some with a familiar mark.

"How often do demons wear clothes?"

"Only the ones pretending to be human bother, and even then not all of them. This could be possession." Vergil offered.

"How often do demon hunters get possessed?"

"More than you think, but usually much less than what we're seeing." Vergil held up his sword, using his thumb to separate the sword from the sheath. "Holy water should work, but be careful."

"I will, but I'm sure our friends there make no promises in that regard." Lara retorted.

Vergil didn't respond, already moving. For the most part, the demons around here were easy, only once did he hear the sound of sizzling that accompanied the use of holy water, the demon screeching in agony. He turned around to throw a spectral sword at the demon, Lara using the pickaxe to split its skull. She paused a moment as if to gag, before shaking it off. Vergil quickly turned back to the last demon, easy enough to bifurcate it with the Yamato.

"I'm pretty sure that sword violates a physics law or two." Lara informed him as she walked up to him.

"Actually, it follows the rules of demonic metaphysics quite well." Vergil assured her, an oddly warm sensation in his chest as once again, she looked to see if he had injuries.

"Is it a devil arm?" Lara asked after a moment.

"Not … not exactly. It's a weapon forged by a demon, I … I don't know much, but it's different from other weapons." He could never figure out how, though, all his study of demonology and alchemy, there just didn't seem to be a way to replicate the creation of the Yamato. And the obscure legends surrounding his father's swords didn't have much to go on. (He wished he had asked more, back when his father was still there, but now it was too late.)

"May I examine it?" Lara gestured to the Yamato, and Vergil stopped to look at her. "Sorry, you don't have to."

"… Maybe when we don't have demons following us." Vergil offered, though he wasn't sure about that. She didn't seem to mind, just nodded, and continued walking.

"Oh!" Lara sped up slightly, looking at one of the random tables that seemed to be spaced through the halls, upon which stood a bronze statuette that looked like two horses emerging from waves.

"That doesn't look like a weapon." Vergil watched her pick it up, her eyes alight with curiosity, the same look she'd had once she'd recovered in the library.

"It's a replica, look, it's been broken here," She pointed to what looked like a foot on one of the horses' backs, "this was most likely some version of Neptune or Poseidon emerging from the waves. Odd that it's broken, though, and it's an old break as well." She flipped it over. "Hello." She pulled out an old key.

"I don't think we should be taking too many detours." Vergil watched her set the statuette down.

"Not a detour, just, if we happen to find an old lock I'd like to see if the key fits." Lara pocketed it, smiling up at him.

"Shall we continue?" Vergil looked away. That odd warm sensation had intensified again, it was, in his opinion, a very uncomfortable sensation.

"Sure, sorry." Lara apologized.

"It's fine. Are you still having trouble with the energy?" Vergil asked, in general, his study of demonic energy had always been for offensive purposes such as the spectral swords, or use in forging of weapons and various relics, never healing. He was sort of curious how well she was holding up.

"Just a bit, though it doesn’t feel as strong as before it, so it's wearing off," Lara gestured for him to wait as she opened a door, a quick glance in showed an empty room with a few paintings, but nothing of interest, "I'm pretty sure it's protecting me a little as well, I thought that last swipe had gotten me." She closed the door.

"According to your map, the next door should be the armory." Vergil offered.

Lara nodded, and thankfully there were no demons in the room. It was fairly large, and most of the cabinets and stands were empty.

"Guess there's a reason they had that inventory in the library." Lara sighed, then moved to the one cabinet that wasn't open. She pulled out the key she'd found. "Well, this was probably where the key was supposed to go, but it looks like they tried to force the lock when they couldn't find it." She looked back at the open cabinents, there were open locks on the floor next to them. "Wonder why this one was hidden?"

"Who knows, could've been a prank that was forgotten." Vergil grimaced, a reminder of a prank he'd been planning for his brother stealing through his mind briefly. Lara caught that, having looked at him at the time.

"Speaking from experience?"

"Perhaps. I can get it open if you want."

"Thanks." Lara took a few steps back.

It took one swing from the Yamato for the lock to break. Vergil sheathed it as the lock fell off the doors. Neither Vergil nor Lara were prepared for the doors to open and the mummified remains of two corpses to fall out along with the remainder of the statuette .

Lara yelped in surprise as the bodies hit the floor. Vergil turned to look at her.

"I thought archaeologists dealt with dead bodies."

"Shockingly, not the ones falling out of cabinets. I think this might have been a murder, based on the … shape of their skulls." Lara gestured to the way both bodies heads were misshapen, including a large dent each that practically split their heads. She stepped cautiously over them to look in the cabinet. "Well, these are bow staves, not strung. Let's see …" Lara cautiously moved one of the bodies' feet out of the cabinet, revealing a box. "Ah-ha!" She exclaimed as she opened it. "Bow strings." She sorted out the one that was the least frayed and used it to string one of the bows that seemed to pass whatever test she gave the bows.

"You're missing arrows." Vergil pointed out, crouching down to see if there was anything of interest on the dead bodies.

"No, looks like all the arrows were in the next cabinet, they must've left them since they couldn't get the bows." Lara grabbed a quiver and made sure it could hold as many arrows as possible without it being impossible to draw them. "Fairly good condition." Quiver secure, she reluctantly crouched down to look at the bodies as well. "This was an order member, mark's still visible on their clothes."

"How long does it take for a body to do this instead of decaying?"

"With dry air and little humidity, several weeks. There still would have been a smell." There was a smell, but the room itself was musty and in need of airing out.

"Implying that when they emptied this room, these two were long dead." Vergil frowned slightly. They'd been dead too long to use, in that case.

"This one doesn't have a hood. Looks like a shirt and vest though …" Lara found a bulge in the vest pocket. A quick tug revealed the remains of a stethoscope. "A doctor … that's curious …" She sat back. "I'd guess he was one of the doctors they brought in thirty years ago when the epidemic got bad. But why would he have been killed like this?"

"Or did he walk in on the murder of the order member and got killed that way."

"Mm, or the other way around." Lara stood up. "May I see the map now? There's something I need to check."

"Of course." Vergil fought down the impulse to hold the map over her head. There would be no point to such frivolity, and she seemed to have something on her mind.

"Well, I think I may have a way forward for us. Yamato can cut anything, I hope?"

"It can."

"Great, let's see it cut through a wall." She held up the map. "This was before the previous renovation was done, notice anything?"

Vergil looked at the spot she pointed at. The entrance hall, and in particular, the area that was marked as a hallway, yet there was currently was a wall with a portrait on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should clarify that I'm actually playing Devil May Cry 4 on my phone as they made it into a mobile game (costs about 5 to download and doesn't take as much room as you'd expect) and having trouble with maneuvering. Also, I may have missed an item back in the first part of the game, so there's a very good chance I'm never making it out of the castle unless I start over.
> 
> Bows would have been a staple of the armory, mostly for use against human enemies, but I'm sure that Angus and Nico could figure out a way to use them.

**Author's Note:**

> So, ta-da! I made a new character. Actually, several, since Credo's too young at this point to be the high commander and I now have a plan, so they're all named after hymns or parts of a mass because there's a theme.
> 
> Vergil shows up next chapter, and then things start rolling.


End file.
